


Dinner Date

by peternureyev



Series: Ketterdam High [4]
Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo, The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Brum is a creep tbh, F/M, Ketterdam High, Matthias The Sensitive Sunflower, Matthias is a runner, Nina is a babe, Party, Social Events, Yes thats a Tag Now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 17:36:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9082606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peternureyev/pseuds/peternureyev
Summary: @helvar.m The team are having a winter party at a fancy restaurant after our race tomorrow@littleredbird Is this you asking me to be your date@littleredbird B/c the answer is no@littleredbird I mean yes, of course, don't get your pants in a twist, sunflower





	

  
Nina yawned, stretching her arms languidly above her head and rocking back on her velvet cushioned chair. It was past midnight, but she had a literature essay due first thing the next morning and she’d only just started. It was just that there were so many more interesting things to do than write about yet another Dickens novel. Like painting her nails a deep shade of red. Or going clothes shopping with Inej. Not to mention that her new waffle iron had arrived ( _thank the heavens for Amazon Prime_ ) and Nina had desperately wanted to try out the new dark chocolate and orange recipe that she’d spotted on Pinterest a few days before. And then, obviously, she’d had to throw a waffle eating party. All the urgent and pressing assignments she had to finish had been pushed aside for licking delicious molten chocolate off her fingers while maintaining constant eye contact with Matthias Helvar. Nina loved seeing him blush, and the mere memory of it almost distracted her from the importance of Victorian novels. _Ugh_.  
Nina reluctantly typed out a few more sentences before checking her phone. Three snapchats and an Instagram DM awaited her. She unlocked her phone, smiling at the screensaver - a selfie of her and Inej posing in front of a billboard at a women’s rights protest. In the background she could see Kaz arguing with some jerk who’d been throwing red paint at young girls and screaming about abortion being murder. Inej’s boyfriend had an endless talent for scaring assholes, even if he kind of was one himself.  
Wrapping her cream faux fur blanket around herself, Nina replied to the snapchats - one from Inej and two from Wylan, and opened Instagram. When she saw Matthias’s username at the top of her inbox her heart fluttered expectantly.

_**helvar.m** Are you awake?_

_**littleredbird** Yes, fuckboi_

_**helvar.m** I don’t know that word, Nina_

Nina grinned to herself. Matthias only knew English as a third language and despite his talented grasp on verbs, nouns and the oxford comma he was yet to learn anything about slang. And despite Jesper’s best efforts to teach him, he was also oblivious to memes.

_**helvar.m** What does it mean?_

_**littleredbird** Ask the internet, sweetheart_

_**littleredbird** What did you want?_

_**helvar.m** The team are having a winter party at a fancy restaurant after our race tomorrow_

_**littleredbird** Is this you asking me to be your date_

_**littleredbird** B/c the answer is no_

_**littleredbird**  I mean yes, of course, don't get your pants in a twist, sunflower_

_**helvar.m**  Nina._

_**helvar.m** Even if Erik is there?_

Nina made a noise of disgust. One of Matthias’s cross country team mates, Erik was a grade A dick. He was constantly making oh so witty jibes at Matthias - laughing at his accent and mocking his old fashioned morals. Once Nina had started dating Mati, Erik’s bullying had turned to her. Nina hadn’t hated her body for a long time now, if anything she loved it more than ever, but she could have done without his endless comments about her weight.

_**littleredbird** I’ll use my witchy powers to make him get lost. He won't know what hit him_

  
_**helvar.m** What would I do without you_

_**helvar.m** My beautiful sorceress_

_**littleredbird** I’ll be casting a spell to send you good luck in the race as well_

Nina stayed up texting her boyfriend into the early hours of the morning, before she eventually fell asleep with her phone cushioned under her cheek. The essay would have to wait.

-

All throughout the next day, Nina was glued to the internet, waiting impatiently for updates from Matthias. The blonde, muscled boy had been destined to be a runner since he could walk, and as a member of an award winning athletics team who were talented enough to non ironically have a stupid name (the ‘Druskelle’ - Nina thought it sounded absolutely ridiculous), he often missed school to compete. Even at lunch Nina couldn’t be distracted by a batch of Wylan’s delicately iced cupcakes. By the time she’d finished refreshing the team twitter page, her friends were scrunching up the wrappers. Jesper had eaten four and Nina watched him try with varying degrees of success to get Wylan to kiss the vanilla frosting off his lips. Finally, after what seemed like years of dreary lessons, a notification popped up on her phone towards the end of her final class.

@ **icecourtathletics** _Astounding second place out of seventy from our cross country team today!_

Nina whooped and punched the air, prompting a knowing look from the student next to her. Anika - Nina had dated her briefly a few years before and the green haired girl had remained a friend. “They win, then?”  
“Second.”  
Anika winked and tapped her nose ring with one black painted fingernail. “Give the barbarian my congratulations. Actually, you have my congratulations too. You look like a girl who knows she’s gonna have a perfect evening.”

-

Nina wrapped her coat closer around her. It was freezing outside and she was _definitely_ not dressed for the winter chill. The weather hadn’t really been something she was considering when she’d picked out her outfit. More how best to render Matthias totally speechless.  
The restaurant that the team captain had picked was very expensive, but more the sort of ‘minimalist decor and tiny portions’ expensive than the ‘glitzy gold and endless courses’ sort that Nina preferred. The Druskelle had booked the whole place up, and it took Nina a moment to spot Matthias among the throng of athletes and their plus ones. He was sitting in a corner looking decidedly uncomfortable, and she smiled to herself as she walked over. Events were not his thing - the last time Kaz had invited him to a Dregs house party he’d politely declined, saying he’d rather throw himself in front of a bullet.  
Noticing her at last, Matthias looked up and his eyes lit up with as much joy as they ever did. “Nina! You made it.”  
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Nina smiled. “Nothing to do with you of course, I’m just excited about the free meal.” Noticing a waiter hovering awkwardly behind her, she allowed him to remove her bulky coat.  
Matthias’s jaw dropped. _Mission accomplished._ She’d chosen to wear one of the outfits she’d selected with Inej; a tight sleeveless dress the colour of red wine and blood with a plunging neckline and slitted skirt. She’d paired it with a velvet choker and high heels sharp enough to take out a man’s eye.  
“Too much?” she asked, smirking with painted lips and positioning herself elegantly next to him.  
Matthias choked on his water.  
“It’s very…very…”  
As she leaned in to press her lips to his, a laughing voice interrupted her. Great.  
“You look all made up for the occasion, Nina.”  
“Well,” she replied, not bothering to face Erik and give him one iota of her attention. “My boyfriend did help your team do very well in a very important race.”  
Next to her, Matthias’s leg tensed.  
Erik made a noise that could only be described as a cackle. “Oh that’s just rich. Hasn’t he told you that yet? Your precious boyfriend didn’t win shit. Helvar just twisted his ankle at the start line and fell flat out cold on his ugly face. Got himself dragged off the track before anyone could trample him. What a cause for celebration. I, on the other hand, placed easily in the top five positio-”  
Matthias stood suddenly, cutting him short of a monologue. “Get out, Erik.”  
Nina sat, frozen as Matthias limped silently away from her towards the bathrooms. Erik raised a pointed eyebrow and then disappeared back into the crowd.  
So much for a perfect evening.

Ten minutes passed, consisting only of Nina staring glumly at her glass of wine and fiddling with her nails, glancing towards the door labelled ‘lavatory’ to see if Matthias would make a reemergence. He didn’t, and although a few of his teammates stopped to say hello, she was left feel awkward and lonely. Eventually Nina decided to go and make him come out, whether that meant bursting into the men’s toilets or not. She made her way across the room and reached the bathroom just as the door opened. _Finally_! But it wasn’t Matthias. The man standing in front of her must have been twice his age; tall, white blonde hair and holding a tall flute of champagne. She didn’t fail to miss his gaze slide over her body.  
“Young lady, are you lost?”  
Nina pursed her lips. “No, just waiting for Matthias Helvar. You don’t happen to have seen him?  
The man smiled slowly and sat down on a sleek leather couch next to the door. “Ah, Matthias. Such a shame about his injury today, he’s usually so talented. Let me introduce myself, I’m Jarl Brum - Matthias’s coach. You must be his girlfriend - Nina, am I correct?”  
Nina nodded politely as Brum patted the seat next to him. She sat down, taking care to leave space between him.  
“Well, Nina, let me tell you that you look absolutely ravishing today.” Brum said smiling like a snake, his eyes still directed far too low beneath her face.  
_Nope. This evening’s gone badly enough already. I don’t need Mati’s coach trying to hit on me._ Nina stood up sharply, placing her hands on her hips. “And you, Coach Brum, look like a pervert.”  
And with that, she entered the men’s bathroom, grabbed Matthias from the corner where he’d been moping, and swiftly steered him out of the restaurant amid the astounded gazes of his teammates.

-

A block away, Nina let Matthias stop limping. He sat down on the sidewalk and stared sullenly at the ground. _Grump_.  
“You know your coach is a creep, right?”  
Matthias started and looked up. “You’re not angry with me, Nina?”  
“Why would I be angry with you?” she asked, rolling her eyes and plonking herself down next to him.  
“Because I messed up the race? Are you not disappointed?” he said despondently.  
“That's the only reason why you ran…well, hobbled, off?” she asked, incredulous.  
He huffed. “Yes.”  
Nina laughed out loud. “Matthias, I love you, but you’re an idiot. It was just a bad party, right?”  
“It was definitely a bad party.”  
“You know what would be a better party?”  
“What?”  
“We go home and make waffles for dinner. And then go to bed.”  
Matthias smiled for the first time in the evening. Maybe even in the day. “Now _that_ is a wonderful idea.”

**Author's Note:**

> blah blah blah i finally updated, it was shit, blah blah  
> historyy.tumblr.com i get lonely


End file.
